Fresh surge in Gaza violence
2006-10-14 16:44
Gaza - Israeli troops killed eight
Palestinian gunmen in clashes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday,
including seven from the militant group Hamas, amid a surge in
violence in the coastal territory.
In the past three days, 21 Palestinians have been killed in
fighting in Gaza, the majority of them militants. Around two
dozen people have also been wounded. There have been no reports
of any Israeli military deaths or injuries.
Since Israel stepped up its offensive in Gaza in June,
following the kidnapping of one of its soldiers by militants, at least 250 Palestinians have been killed, around half civilians.
Israel says the offensive is designed to track down the
kidnapped soldier and to stop militants firing home-made rockets into Israel. Rocket attacks have increased in recent days.
The latest gunman killed was from the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
a wing of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. His car was
struck by a missile in an Israeli air strike, emergency workers
said. Another gunman in the car was critically wounded and two
passers-by were also hurt.
Four of the Hamas militants killed on Saturday died when a
house they were hiding in was hit by a series of Israeli
missiles, security sources said. A fifth later died of his
wounds. Three others were killed in separate raids.
The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out the
attacks, including the air strike.
A column of Israeli tanks backed by attack helicopters moved
into an area east of the town of Jabalya, outside Gaza City,
overnight, part of what Israel has dubbed operation "Rain Man".
Israel says the operation will end on Sunday but that the
timing "will be determined according to security assessments".
Israeli media reported that Defence Minister Amir Peretz had
instructed the military to expand its operations to prevent
rocket attacks on towns in southern Israel.
Stalled talks
Peretz is originally from the town of Sderot, just outside
Gaza, which has been hit frequently by rockets fired from Gaza
in the past year. The rocket attacks often cause damage and
light injuries but very rarely cause deaths.
Israel pulled its troops and more than 8 000 Jewish settlers
out of Gaza last year after 38 years of occupation. Since the
pullout, Palestinian militants have consistently fired makeshift rockets from Gaza into Israel.
The recent fighting also comes amid deepening divisions
among Palestinians, with forces from Hamas, which controls the
Palestinian government, clashing with rivals loyal to Fatah.
Hamas defeated Fatah in elections in January this year and
there has been a power struggle between the two groups since.
Weeks of talks to form a unity government, and potentially
put an end to the in-fighting, have so far failed to bear fruit.
Attempts to organise a first formal meeting between Abbas
and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in the pipeline for the
past two weeks, also appear to have been put on hold, postponing efforts to revive long-stalled peace talks.
- Reuters